O'Toole wants force 'to heal'

When Deputy Superintendent Robert E. O'Toole Jr. of the Boston police pushed his way through the riotous crowd outside Fenway Park last fall and found 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove bleeding on the ground, his mind flashed immediately to his own daughter.

At the hospital when he was told that she had been killed by a pepper projectile fired into the crowd by one of the officers under his command, it felt as if he had been hit by a train, he said.

''I knew from that moment that my life would never be the same again," O'Toole said, speaking publicly for the first time about Snelgrove's Oct. 21 death and his role in it.

''That's something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life."

Yesterday, the same day Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole announced a $5 million settlement with Snelgrove's family, Robert O'Toole, who commanded operations around Fenway that night, handed in his retirement papers after 37 years on the force.

Like the captain of a ship, he said, he had to take responsibility for what he called a tragic accident.

''We did the right thing for the right reasons, trying to save people's lives, . . . and we had a tragic result," O'Toole said. ''That's what I take responsibility for."

O'Toole ordered officers to use less-lethal weapons that night and fired a few rounds himself as the crowd grew out of control on Lansdowne Street after the Red Sox upset the Yankees to win the American League Championship. ''None of my officers went out that night to hurt anyone," he said. ''That was not our intention."

But, O'Toole said, he had 70 police officers in the area, struggling to control a huge and unruly crowd. The scene, he said, had gone from celebratory to ''outright scary," with people lighting fires, trying to overturn cars with passengers inside, and throwing bottles at police and their horses.

''We were trying to keep them from killing each other," O'Toole said, adding that when he found Snelgrove on the ground, he thought she had fallen from a parking garage. He was screaming for an ambulance, O'Toole said. ''I truly in my heart believe it was the most tragic of tragic accidents."

He said the department probably ''miscalculated the Yankee factor" and didn't have enough officers to handle the crowd. But he said police have already learned from their mistakes, pointing out that after the World Series victory, police made an extraordinary and effective show of force.

O'Toole -- a former Marine from Charlestown who joined the Boston Police Department in 1968, following the career path of his father, brothers, cousins, and uncles -- said that he knew the time had come to turn in his badge when criminal and administrative inquiries focused on the department's role in Snelgrove's death. He was transferred from the special operations unit that he loved to special events planning in February.

''It was the right thing to do," O'Toole said of his retirement, adding that it was necessary to help the department recover from one of the most difficult episodes in its recent history. O'Toole said the commissioner, his friend of 30 years, did not ask for his resignation and told him the decision was his.

''Sometimes you need to step aside and allow the department to heal and move on," said Robert O'Toole, who will turn 60 in August.

It is a difficult job to walk away from for a man who refused to go out on disability after a serious on-the-job motorcycle accident in the early 1980s and who took a pay cut and dropped his detective rank to work in the special operations unit because he preferred wearing a uniform to working undercover. ''I take great pride in wearing that uniform," he said.

At a press conference about the settlement yesterday, Kathleen O'Toole said: ''Bob has been at the center of controversy and media speculation since this tragedy occurred. While Bob is the first to admit that he's made mistakes during his career, he has served the city for 37 years, and his contributions to the Boston Police Department cannot be overstated."

Investigations into Snelgrove's death continue. A seven-member commission is expected to issue a report soon, in part, about how the police force responded.

As for assertions that he wasn't certified by the manufacturer of the pepper-pellet gun, O'Toole said: ''I'm a firearms instructor. I have handled more weapons than most officers will ever think of handling."

O'Toole said he will meet with the retirement board within the next couple of weeks, but he has already worked his last day. He said he has five weeks of unused vacation time and some sick days.

He said he hopes he'll be remembered for more than just the Snelgrove case.

''I can still look in the mirror and say, 'Bob O'Toole, you're a good man,' " he said.

''I know I did more good than harm, and I tried to do the right thing and am very proud to be a Boston police officer."